“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” – Thomas Paine

This is not, however, what I expected.

58  now updated to 65  people shot over the long weekend.

6 killed.

Few, if any of the victims or the witnesses are cooperating with police. It is, after all, the South Side of Chicago.

At least 8 of the shooting victims were kids

1 of the kids was 4 years old. He died.

But Black Lives Matter, don’t they?

And despite the narratives of last year…..Oddly enough, the cops didn’t kill any of ’em.

I mean, it is Union inspired and aimed at promoting Socialism.

But hey, have a hot dog and a beer and enjoy the day off.

Just remember what you are celebrating

So on Saturday, MC and I flew the 340A to meet Aaron in Pontiac, Michigan to attend the local RenFaire.

A good time was had by all. Aaron got his turkey leg (You should have seen the serving  kid’s face when I told him I only wanted Left legs….) and we had a great time. Food, shops, Lots of cutlery (of the pokey-stabby kind) and costumes, jewelry, etc. It was an awesome time with a friend that I have not seen too often lately.

The RenFaire was HUGE, larger in area than Bristol, Wisconsin (which MC and I have attended in the past) and, while not as well organized, was attended by a great many more people. I love people watching and so had a good time….Plus food. Plus music. Too soon we had to head home.

We flew to PTK from NW Indiana, departing IFR… first cleared to 3000 feet, then cleared to 11,000 feet and final cruise of 17,000 feet. Total time was 1 hour 4 minutes, then a visual approach to the newly paved and painted 27L runway at PTK. The view was beautiful on the way to PTK. Here is the view just as we began our descent into PTK.

(As you can see at the end of the video clip, we were really “haulin’ the mail”)

After the RenFaire (we left a bit early due to deteriorating conditions in Indiana and I didn’t want to do an IFR approach at night in the 340 just yet)), we were delivered back to the airport by Aaron and departed on an IFR flight plan back home. First cleared to 3000, then 11,000 then our cruise altitude of 14,000. The headwinds were brutal, at 32 knots (14,000 was the least bad of the altitude choices)) .

One nice thing about flying the 340A is that there is less traffic in the mid and upper teens, so one gets clearance via the route one files for, at least most of the time. Higher than the “Bug Smashers” (Hey, I used to fly one of those!) and lower than the big jets and the airlines…so less traffic for ATC to deal with at your altitude.

We were IFR shortly after leaving PTK before reaching our initial assigned altitude of 3k, then all the way home we were in the soup (this means in the clouds with no visual reference for up/down or left/right….only instruments… easy to get disoriented).  I blew the approach on the first try and went missed and had to be vectored back for my second, successful, approach….. we broke out at 1300 feet (Minimums are a little above 1000 feet) and I made a nearly perfect landing.

All in all, a good day, time with friends, flying, learning more about the plane and a challenging flight home.

I’d like to thank Aaron for his hospitality and just being a good guy.

In my AO, the number of Biden-Harris bumper stickers and yard signs and such have suddenly declined….greatly…and rapidly.

Like there are nearly zero to be found.

And this is a “purple” county…..

It’s almost as if folks are suddenly ashamed of admitting that they voted for the senile, groping imbecile.

I guess all those “Mean Tweets” pale in comparison to incompetence.

The Media is now warning us that the threat of Flu is a big one, when added to the threat of Covid..

30-50 THOUSAND deaths from flu is the normal yearly number…..400,000 hospitalizations.

This “double Whammy” could cause havoc in the coming months, as far as the Health Care System is concerned.

Yet last year, 2020, there were essentially zero reported Flu deaths.

Odd, that.

So, after a bit of learning about power settings and trim settings and such, I have mostly learned how to set the 340 up for fast cruise flight without wasting a lot of fuel.

She’s still thirsty on the climb, and at max continuous power, but cruise numbers are not that bad (it isn’t however, an economical aircraft to fly….)

Cruise numbers at 15,000 ft are: 178 knots, 28 GPH, 197 knots, 32 GPH, and 209 knots 36 GPH. Climb is 48 GPH.

Balls-out, up high, it can do 227 Knots, if you can pay the fuel bill.

But it carries 6 people for at least 3 1/2 hours (with reserve) or more people with lesser range…..in fair comfort.  Or fewer people (like 3 or two) for as much as 5 hours in economy cruise.

Pretty much the magic number is 800 lbs of people or cargo for 800 nautical miles.

It has the R-STOL flaps, so it you do things right, you can get in the air and clear a 50 foot obstacle at half load and half fuel in less than 600 feet, and at max gross in less than 1400 ft.  Short Field land at max gross at 72 knots and theoretically stop in less than 1800 feet….(I still need some practice for that short of landings, but those are the numbers and the dude I bought the plane from did it with me in the cockpit, so I know it is just practice)

It needs some polish on the paint, and a few other touches, but I’m happy.

Installing the bar next week. 

Gonna go places soon.

ETA: I’m not sure why the photos are such low resolution….they were taken with a 12 MP camera, and they show up really crisp and clear on my computer before posting. Once posted though, they show up really grainy. 

Must be a WordPress issue

So last night, at a special meeting, we terminated the membership of a member of my shooting club due to repeated serious safety and other rule violations. I had the distinctly unpleasant duty to preside over the meeting as the President was one of his accusers.

Dude knew he was “on trial”, and yet he was uncooperative, arrogant, and disrespectful of the other members. Unapologetic and unrepentant

At the start of the meeting, it was not assured that he was gonna be terminated, but his refusal to acknowledge that he had violated multiple rules multiple times and show any reason for the rest of us to believe that he would not continue to do so in the future led to his expulsion.

His main defense? “I am a paying member, I can do what I want….and any restrictions on my behavior are restrictions on the Second Amendment.”.

What does one do when a member refuses to adhere to basic safety rules, or simple rules of behavior that are in place for the benefit of all range members?

The vote was 54 to terminate his membership, zero for retention, with 3 abstentions.

As the saying goes, few people have talked themselves out of traffic ticket, but many have talked themselves into one.

Flew Monday evening to Texas to get the 340….flew it (with a training pilot) to Minneapolis where I spent the next day getting yet more training (insurance mandated the training, but it was a good idea) and then flew home Wed evening.

10 hours of training in a day and a half. Plus another 2.5 hours home.

I. R Tired. Mind fried.

Videos and some pics soon, as soon as I get caught up here at home.

I will say that 200 knots burns up the distance fairly rapidly.